Of Wolves and Monsters PART 2
by FalconLux
Summary: This is the sequel to "Of Wolves and Monsters"... obviously. Miles works to come to terms with her new life. She finds herself caught between the frightened girl and the dominant wolf inside her while Nathan battles the desires of his wolf to give Miles the time she needs to recover from a lifetime of trauma at the hands of men. See inside for more about story and rating.
1. Chapter 1

**_This is the sequel to "Of Wolves and Monsters"... obviously. In this installment, Miles works to come to terms with her new life, despite being unable to put her old life entirely behind her. She finds herself caught between the frightened girl and the dominant wolf inside her while Nathan battles the desires of his wolf to give Miles the time she needs to recover from a lifetime of trauma at the hands of men. _**

_Rated M for sexual situations, eventual violence, and an abundance of impure thoughts. _

_*I do not own the Alpha and Omega series or anything about it and I make no money from this, so please review. That's all I'm getting out of this._

**_WILL UPDATE EVERY FRIDAY BARRING DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, OR FLU._**

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**-:- Miles -:-**

Miles stared at the words on the page of the ancient book that Bran had given her. It was written in Latin. Her private lessons with Bran – though not as frequent as she would have liked given his many obligations – had given her a solid understanding of the spoken language. Her task now was in learning to read it. That was proving more difficult than she had expected. Not only did she have to learn the way that the words were spelled, but was also forced to contend with the antiquated phrasing and expressions.

She loved learning, she'd discovered almost immediately. She loved it that people actually cared enough to take the time to teach her something. Bran's homework though, was proving to be an unexpected challenge. It wasn't that she needed the direct counseling in order to understand. She just needed to have someone else there to keep her focused. Too much time alone was difficult.

Life had gotten easier when she'd moved to Aspen Creek. She'd spent the first couple of months as a guest in Bran's house, but he seemed to always have visitors. Too many people around all the time had made her anxious, so Bran had eventually consented to move her out to a very old cabin in the woods a few miles behind his house. It was very remote, accessible only via an overgrown trail that had been cleared enough to allow ATVs through.

It was also small, just a single room. Her bedroom area was in the loft, consisting of a cot, dresser, and an open rack to hang a few things. She had a curtained toilet area in one corner of the main room. The bathtub was an old wooden thing that she kept stored under a table when she wasn't using it.

There had been no electricity before she'd moved in, but Bran had insisted on providing her with a generator and some electric lights. There was no internet or phone, though she did have a cell phone, which she used basically only when Bran wanted to talk to her.

After reading the same line for the eighth time, she gave up and closed the book gently, setting it on the rickety little table next to her cot. It was useless. She couldn't concentrate. Exasperated, she bypassed the ladder entirely and hopped easily down to the floor below. She paced the little room a few times before deciding that a bath was what she needed. She loved that deep little tub all to herself. Before Aspen Creek, she'd never experienced anything like a quiet, peaceful soak in warm water.

She pulled the tub out and ran a hose into it to begin filling, then stoked up the fire some more while she waited. One benefit of such a small house was that it didn't take a lot to heat it. The room was getting toasty by the time the tub had filled. She gratefully stripped out of her clothes and sank into the tub.

After spending most of her life primarily in the nude, one would think that she'd would relish the clothes Bran had given her. Somehow, everything felt restrictive and uncomfortable. She didn't usually wear much when she was in her house.

She laid her head back against the high back of the tub and let her troublesome thoughts leech away into the warm water.

A knock on the door pulled her eyes open and Miles realized that she'd dozed off. The water was cooling, so she must have been in there a while. "Come in," she called, standing up out of the water.

**-:- Nathan -:-**

Nathan opened the door in response to her call and stopped dead when he found himself staring at her completely naked, dripping wet, utterly perfect body. For one long moment, he stood frozen, helplessly taking in the view. Then his sensibilities finally caught up with him and he did an immediate about-face, closing the door and staring at it while his wolf urged him against all gentlemanly thoughts.

They were alone and she was naked. He should go to her and take her now and claim her as his own.

Nathan took hold of those desires with an iron fist. Considering Miles' history with being raped, he was absolutely certain that any such forceful action on his part would result in a vicious fight – possibly to the death – rather than the happy picture the wolf imagined.

For a long moment, he heard nothing behind him.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. There was no chance that she'd missed the scent of his arousal. Nudity wasn't generally a big deal among wolves, but Miles wasn't just any wolf. Nathan's wolf had chosen her and four months of having his sentiment completely and totally ignored had left him somewhat less than entirely stable. Not that his wolf was entirely to blame. Nathan wanted it too, but he had the sense to know that Miles was not mentally ready to be courted by him or anyone. It could be decades before she was ready for that.

Nathan was almost a hundred years old. He could wait a few decades for her if he had to. His wolf… Well, he wasn't so sure about that.

"Why?" she asked, sounding merely curious.

"Why am I sorry?" he wondered.

She said nothing for a moment, presumably considering her response. "Why are you afraid to look at me?" she clarified at last.

Nathan sighed heavily and further pushed down his wolf. "I'm sorry for that," he admitted. "It's just…" Did she really not understand why he didn't want to look at her? Well, obviously, he answered himself. She most definitely wasn't the sort to fish for compliments or play coy games. She truly did not understand. That made it absolutely necessary, but much more difficult to explain.

"I like you, Miles," he admitted uncomfortably. "Seeing you… naked… I guess I enjoy it more than I should."

Her pause was almost physically painful for Nathan.

Finally, he heard her step out of the water and then the soft sound of fluffy fabric rubbing against fluffy fabric.

"You can look now," she said at last.

Nathan turned around warily to find a large white towel tucked in around her chest and hanging nearly to her knees.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she apologized genuinely.

"Not your fault," he smiled uneasily, having a difficult time looking her in the eyes.

"Did you need something?" she asked after a brief, thoughtful pause.

"Charles asked me to come speak to you," he admitted.

She frowned uncertainly. "Why didn't he call me?"

Nathan smiled a little. "He tried. More than once, evidently."

She grimaced and spun to sift through a pile of clothes on the floor until she came up with a pair of pants and dug her phone out of a pocket. "I couldn't hear it vibrate inside all those clothes," she admitted. "What did he want?"

"He wanted you to call him," Nathan admitted.

She speed-dialed him quickly. Despite living her entire life without such creature comforts as her own cell phone, Miles was a fast learner and she'd picked that stuff up very quickly.

"_Hello_."

Charles' deep voice sounded slightly irritated and Nathan felt himself instinctively tense at the sound.

"Nathan's here," was Miles' response. It was generally only polite among werewolves to make a caller aware that he or she may be overheard, since there was no such thing as a private call with a werewolf in the room, but something in the way that she said that so immediately made Nathan wonder if there was something particular that Charles and Miles wanted to keep from him.

"_Good_," Charles replied. "_Change of plans. Meet me at the Marrok's house right away. Both of you_."

"Yes, sir," Nathan piped in quickly.

"On my way," Miles added just a second before the other end of the line clicked dead.

Miles immediately put the phone down, then dropped her towel and started sifting through her clothes.

Nathan closed his eyes and bit his cheek until he tasted blood, ruthlessly repressing his wolf's urges.

His eyes snapped open again when he heard Miles stumble and he opened them in time to see her land on her rear whilst trying to slip a second leg into her pants. She wasn't wearing any underwear.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern, though there was a slight growl to his voice thanks to his wolf's thoughts on her incomplete wardrobe and her vulnerable position. He took a small step forward with the idea of helping her up.

Miles' eyes flashed to icy wolf blue at his advance, stopping Nathan in his tracks.

She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath.

As she did, Nathan could smell the sickly scent of her panic permeate the room and he absolutely hated himself for frightening her. He wanted to apologize immediately, but his instincts warned him against it. Better to let her get control of herself first. The fact that she felt confident enough to close her eyes with him standing right there was enough to prove that she trusted him. For the most part.

After about half a minute, she opened her eyes again and they were the deep blue that they should be in this form. "I'm sorry," she said, beating him to it.

"It was my fault," he quickly contradicted.

She shook her head. "You didn't do anything wrong. They're my demons."

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked gently. Wolves didn't just lose their balance getting dressed, not even when trying to hurry.

She frowned at him thoughtfully while she shimmied her baggy pants the rest of the way up onto her hips. "You really mean that," she stated curiously.

"Why wouldn't I?" Nathan asked uncertainly.

After a moment more, she just shook her head and resumed dressing. "Nevermind."

Nathan very much wanted to question her further on that, but he'd learned a long time ago that pressing Miles on anything was the opposite of helpful. He was pretty sure that she could go months without talking if she wanted to.

"Charles and the Marrok will be waiting," he said when she was dressed.

She nodded and preceded him out of the little cabin.

_**Please review! Let me know if you like it. If you don't, let me know that too! I can't fix problems that I don't know about.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_I meant to get this chapter posted this morning, but... well, it's just been one of those days._

_*I do not own the Alpha and Omega series or anything about it and I make no money from this, so please review. That's all I'm getting out of this._

**-:- Miles -:-**

Miles led the way toward the Marrok's house at a fast jog, thinking over what he'd said today. He'd said that he liked her, but he didn't want to see her naked because… because he enjoyed seeing her naked. His explanation didn't make a lot of sense to her, but she understood what he hadn't said better. The scent of his arousal had been… powerful. Contrarily, his posture had been rigid with tension.

Her shoulders tensed as she finally understood. He'd wanted to rape her. He'd wanted it so much that he'd had to physically fight the urge. Suddenly, she felt like prey as he jogged behind her. She took a quick step to the side of the trail and stopped.

Nathan passed by her, then stopped and turned, his expression curious, his scent a bit concerned. "Everything okay?"

She stared at him a moment, then shook her head. "You go ahead. I'll meet you there."

He looked like he wanted to complain, but after a moment, he just nodded and started up the path again.

Miles breathed a sigh of relief as he disappeared around a corner and his footsteps continued to move away. She leaned heavily against a tree and closed her eyes, trying to decide what to think about her revelation.

Nathan had been the first kind man that she'd ever met. She'd let herself believe that he would never hurt her – that he would even protect her. But after what she'd seen today, she wasn't sure that she could ever truly trust him again. He'd wanted to hurt her. Even if he hadn't done it, he'd wanted to.

If Nathan, the kindest man she'd ever known, could want to hurt her, then… Well, then she'd been mistaken. There truly was no such thing as a kind man. She needed to stop being so naïve.

_No! _ Lupa growled furiously. _Our friend will not hurt us!_

"Even if that's true," Miles said quietly, "he _wants _to."

_He would kill anyone who tried! _Lupa insisted adamantly.

"How can you be so certain?" Miles demanded. She wanted more than anything to believe what her wolf clearly did. She wanted to believe that such a person existed. But how could she?

_Don't think! _Lupa scolded. _Feel. We feel him._

Miles cringed at the thought. Throughout her life, she'd protected herself by avoiding that very thing. Feeling was perilous. Emotion had almost destroyed her more than once before she'd learned to avoid it.

That was her answer, she realized, ignoring Lupa's furious rebuttal. She would deal with this the way she'd dealt with every unpleasant thing in her life. Logic and emotional distance. She needed to forget about her foolish dreams of Nathan's affection being something pure. She had to protect herself.

**-:- Nathan -:-**

"Where's Miles?" Charles' intimidating baritone inquired almost as soon as Nathan entered the Marrok's house.

"She said that she'd meet me here," Nathan shrugged, his eyes meeting the larger man's jaw.

Charles made no response and his stony face did not change.

Nathan was wondering what this was all about. The fact that they'd been called to the Marrok's house suggested that this had something to do with the Marrok, but Charles didn't look like he was going to explain anything.

After a moment of mutual silence, the Marrok's voice drifted out from his office. "Nathan, a private word?"

Nathan moved around Charles without getting too close. He closed the office door behind him, since the Marrok had requested a "private" word. The office was sound-proofed well enough that even if a werewolf were to press his ear against the door, he'd hear only indiscernible mumbles, making it one of the few places to have a truly private conversation among werewolves.

"I'm sending you with Miles to Maine," the Marrok began bluntly.

Nathan frowned uncertainly. "Is there a problem?"

"Maybe," Bran replied obscurely. "I haven't received a status report in almost two months and I've been unable to reach them."

"Sir," Nathan said uncertainly, "Is Miles ready for this?"

The Marrok frowned, "I've done as much as I can for her here."

"Okay, but wouldn't Charles be a better choice to go with her?" Nathan reasoned. "I'm not sure if I could control her if she needs help."

"That's the point," Bran agreed. "Miles doesn't react well to being controlled. It would be more likely to panic her than calm her."

"Anna then."

"She doesn't trust Anna enough to relax around her. And Asil isn't stable enough himself to be trusted with this. You're the only one who can do this."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Nathan asked, frustrated and uncertain despite his wolf's smug satisfaction at being the only one who could help Miles.

"Nothing invasive," Bran assured him. "Go with her to Maine and figure out what's happening with the Italian pack. Report back to me with what you find and we'll go from there. If there is foul play involved, I'll send Charles to deal with it.

"I need to see how Miles handles this, and I think it would be beneficial to her to feel like she has a purpose in the world. If she handles it well, we'll try it again. She abhors all kinds of violence, but she is very smart. I'm confident that I'll be able to find a job for her, but first I have to figure out what I'm working with. For now, that's your job."

"Yes, sir," Nathan agreed pensively. He hadn't actually spent that much time one-on-one with Miles. While the idea appealed to him, he wasn't sure how she'd react. Not to him, to their assignment, or to any number of other factors. Like crowds. She seemed to avoid crowds at all costs, but that wouldn't be possible on this trip. And he had no idea how she might react when surrounded by unfamiliar werewolves.

He could see a lot of potential for catastrophe on this trip, but if the Marrok believed that she was ready… Well, this was no time to start doubting Bran's omniscience.

"Go home and pack," Bran said, interrupting Nathan's thoughts. "You'll take the Leir to Billings and from there fly to Bangor. Plan to be there a few days."

"Yes, sir," Nathan nodded. When he left the office, he found that Miles had arrived. She was leaning against the wall near Charles and it looked like they'd been talking before he'd appeared. Charles watched him leave. Miles didn't even glance at him.

"Miles, a word?" Bran's voice came from the office as Nathan let himself out of the house.

**-:- Miles -:-**

"You want me to go to Maine?" Miles asked warily. "With Nathan? Why?"

"Because I think you're starting to get comfortable here," he replied simply.

Miles studied that Marrok intently, searching for anything to indicate a hidden meaning. "You don't want me to be comfortable?" she asked quietly.

"I don't want you to be complacent," he corrected, his eyes softening ever so slightly. "I don't know if this pack is in trouble or intending to make trouble. There's a chance that what you find there will make that answer quite obvious. There's also a chance that it may not be so easy to ascertain the truth. That's why I want you there.

"This is what you've been training for, Miles, but if you don't think that you're ready, I need you to let me know right now."

"I'm ready," Miles said at once. "But I thought I'd be doing this with Charles. Isn't that why I've been training with him?" She trusted Charles more than Nathan. Charles, like his father, she understood. He would always do what he felt was necessary, but he'd never hurt anyone without reason. Most importantly though, Charles, like his father, was already mated.

Bran nodded his understanding. "Charles enjoys teaching you, but the two of you are not ready to work together. Besides, sending the two of you together would be counterproductive. And since this is your first assignment, you need someone that you trust. I've seen the way you let your guard down around Nathan. You don't do that for anyone else."

Miles hesitated before admitting, "I may have misjudged Nathan."

"How so?" Bran asked conversationally.

"Something that happened this morning," she admitted, watching Bran's eyes since she was often able to read emotion there that he didn't show anywhere else. "He reacted strangely when he saw me naked in my house. I realized later what it meant. He wants to rape me."

There was no expression in Bran's face or body and his scent did not betray him, but Miles detected a hint of amusement in his eyes. He came around his desk and put his hand lightly on her shoulder, looking down into her eyes. "I assure you that he would never harm you."

His honest words echoed Lupa's and hit Miles hard. She wanted so badly to believe them, but… "I could smell his arousal," she insisted. "He held himself in check, but he wanted to."

"He doesn't want to do anything against your will," Bran explained. "He doesn't want to rape you. He wants to make love to you."

Miles considered his words, referencing the romance novels that Anna had given her for context. "What's the difference?" she finally asked.

****Please review! Let me know if you like it. If you don't, let me know that too! I can't fix problems that I don't know about.****


	3. Chapter 3

**_So sorry that this chapter is late in coming. Illness is my excuse. The length of the chapter is my penance. I'm still working out the plot. Right now, I have only a rough idea of the next few chapters and very little beyond that. While I make absolutely no promises to take any suggestions, I would be very interested to learn what you see or would like to see coming. It may help with my inspiration. I hope that you enjoy, and please let me know what you think!_**

_*The Alpha and Omega series and the universe in which it is based belongs to Patricia Briggs. Sadly, I am not Patricia Briggs. While I receive no monetary gain from this story, I do hope to do justice to this amazing universe and the characters I have borrowed._

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-:- Nathan -:-

Nathan couldn't help but notice that Miles' eyes flashed to pale blue as she hesitated at the top of the steps before actually entering the small jet.

She took a slow breath and stepped through the threshold, but her eyes didn't darken again.

"Everything all right?" he asked warily.

"Some bad memories involving small airplanes," she said softly without looking at him. "I'll be fine."

"We might need to get you some sunglasses if we're going to keep a low profile," he reasoned.

She nodded, producing a pair from a pocket. "Bran thought of that too."

And that was the extent of the conversation for the short flight to Billings. She claimed a front-facing seat at the rear of the cabin. Considering that her eyes were still shining wolf blue, he opted to sit as far away from her as the small plane allowed while still keeping her within visual range. Which amounted to a rear-facing window seat across the aisle. It wasn't much, but she seemed okay with the arrangement.

Nathan really hoped that her issue with small planes didn't extend to large ones.

As soon as the plane was in the air, Miles closed her silvery-blue eyes and didn't open them again until the pilot announced that they were making their approach into Billings.

Miles slid the sunglasses onto her face as they exited the plane, and she left them there despite the fact that her eyes had returned to dark blue. He suspected that in the busy airport, they would not stay that way long.

Despite his concerns for her reaction to the crowd, Miles accompanied him through the busy airport with no apparent opinion of the crowds. He couldn't smell any fear from her, but then he couldn't smell any emotion at all. She was doing that thing that she did sometimes where she either managed to block her emotions from affecting her body and sending out the telltale scent, or she managed to simply block her emotions completely. The Marrok was a master at that, and Charles seemed to have it down as well – either that or he really was emotionless… For Miles to be able to do it considering her age and little training, Nathan could only imagine that it was instinctive for her.

Despite her talent in that arena, Nathan knew her well enough to know what it meant. She wasn't comfortable. Her scent was always perfectly ordinary when she was at ease.

They both drew a lot of looks from those they passed, which was common for dominant wolves in general. It seemed like she was drawing more than him, though that probably had something to do with her "I-will-drop-kick-you" posture and stony expression.

She remained silent and outwardly impassive all the way to the gate, and kind of surprised him by taking the seat directly at his side without hesitation. He hoped that that meant he was forgiven for his stupid, embarrassing reaction in her house that morning. She'd been colder toward him ever since.

His thoughts were shaken when Miles' hand suddenly gripped his painfully hard and he smelled fury rolling off her in one tremendous wave.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly but urgently, having a little difficulty keeping the pain of her viselike grip out of his voice.

She sat absolutely motionless for about five very long seconds, then turned her face into his arm. He wasn't sure if she was hiding her face or preventing herself from seeing something. He would have enjoyed her rare touch a lot more if he wasn't so worried – and in pain. Werewolves weren't a secret anymore, but if she lost control in the middle of the airport, people could die. And if they did, the Marrok would have to kill her. Nathan wouldn't be able to accept that, so he'd have to defend her, and they'd both end up dead.

He wasn't strong enough to control her, but she was good at controlling herself. Bran wouldn't have sent her if she wasn't. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, hoping that his calm would help her. "Shh," he whispered. "You're okay now. You need to calm down…" She was so close to the change that he could feel the tingles of magic beginning to fill the air.

After a long and unsettling moment, she took a slow, deep breath and spoke softly, "The man in the green jacket and black pants… Is he still here?"

It only took Nathan a moment to locate the man she was talking about. He was standing near the window, holding a black briefcase. He was probably about sixty or sixty-five with thick white hair and a small potbelly. He looked like he was waiting for the flight too. That wasn't good. If that man bothered her this much, would she be able to handle the whole flight to Maine?

"Yes," he replied softly. "Who is he?" Then because he didn't want her to think that he was pressuring her for a specific answer, he added, "Should I be concerned?"

She took a deep breath and slowly peeked around his arm, her eyes falling on the man immediately. So close, Nathan could see the glow of her eyes through the sunglasses. Her fury had abated a little, but he could still smell it. "He…" She swallowed hard, then shook her head slightly. "I won't be able to control myself if I talk about it now. I don't think that we need to be concerned. I haven't see him in… Years," she finished.

Her eyes strayed toward a strong, dangerous-looking man standing a few feet to the older man's left side. There was another on his right. They both wore black suits, but they looked more like mercenaries or bodyguards than businessmen. "He didn't used to travel commercially," she whispered so softly that if he'd been human he wouldn't have heard even though her lips were just inches from his ear. "His name is Alfonso Castinello," she continued, despite what she'd just said about not wanting to talk about him.

"Okay," Nathan said softly. "Will be you okay to be on this flight with him, or should we find another?"

She shook her head slowly. "No more flights until tomorrow, and that one will leave us two hundred miles from the right town."

Nathan hadn't noticed that detail. "Well, that's unfortunate," he agreed, "but I'm sure Bran would prefer us to take a little longer in getting there rather than have an incident on this flight."

She looked into his eyes – which is something that she almost never did when she was human, "No, I'll be okay. No _incidents_. I'm sure he'll be in first class anyway-"

"We're in first class," Nathan informed her.

She frowned slightly.

"Dominants like us," he explained, "don't tend to do real well squished into coach."

She nodded as though that made sense, "Well, I'll be okay. As long as you stay calm, I won't have a problem."

Nathan tried not to enjoy it too much to know that she needed him.

When they boarded the plane, Nathan managed to arrange it with the flight attendant so they would be at the very back of the first class section, as far away from Alfonso as they could get. Miles was maintaining her outward calm rather well, and her anger had dissipated, but it hadn't gone away.

Miles did fine for the first hour of the flight, but then someone must have turned up the ventilation system, because Alfonso's scent was suddenly blowing right on them. Nathan felt her stiffen before he'd even noticed the increase in the man's scent. She took his hand again – not quite painfully this time – and turned her face into his shoulder. He thought that this time it was to cover up the scent with his.

His instinct was to reach over and rub her shoulder to try to help calm her – werewolves responded strongly to touch – but Miles wasn't just any wolf. She didn't like touch when she was in her human form. He felt her rage increase tenfold and he could feel magic and power so thick in the air it was almost hard to breathe.

Nathan very much wanted to know who in the hell that man was, but judging by her reaction, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to maintain his own calm if he knew what that man had done to her. He'd ask her about it after the flight when neither of them were in too great a danger of killing him. He wasn't sure if she'd be in the sharing mood then, since she never really seemed to be in that kind of mood, but he thought that he deserved an explanation.

Her free hand wrapped around his bicep and she nuzzled her nose into his arm in a way that was more wolf than woman. She took slow, deep breaths, and he gradually felt her calming down again.

"I thought my control was better than this," she just barely whispered a few minutes later. "If you weren't here-" It sounded like she forcibly stopped herself from continuing that line of thought. He figured that was probably a good thing, because he could imagine what she was going to say and it would hardly help her calm to voice violent thoughts.

"Shh. It's okay," he murmured, running his fingers lightly through her hair before he could stop himself. She didn't seem averse to the touch though, as he'd thought she'd be. She just nuzzled into him a little more and he felt her relax further.

It took all of his willpower to prevent himself from swelling with pride and satisfaction at his touch having such an effect on her. Smelling those emotions from him might just have the effect on her that he'd feared his touch would.

"Don't get any ideas. You're not likely to find me this vulnerable very often," she said in an almost silent whisper, proving that he hadn't hidden his emotions as well as he'd have liked.

"Then I'd better enjoy it while I can," he responded, though his tone wasn't as gloating or self-assured as his words. He was worried about her and sick about some of the horrible things he imagined she might have endured to leave her as she was. Still, the only thing he could really feel at the moment was the violent, demanding need to hold her and keep her safe every moment of every day from then on so that no one could ever hurt her again… Wolves are possessive like that.

He continued to caress her hair, very slowly and softly, and she relaxed to the point that he was pretty sure the sunglasses were unnecessary. A short time after that, he felt her relax fully into sleep. He sighed softly, his wolf more content with the way she slept on him than he'd ever felt the wolf before. He settled back gently and Miles stirred a little, nuzzled her nose against him right where shoulder meets neck and the scent is strongest, as she wrapped both her arms around his one and settled into a peaceful sleep again.

Nathan kissed her forehead very lightly – just a bare brush of his lips – then rested his head against hers and let himself bask in her scent and her bare arms against his and her face on his neck. He knew that her jest about him not getting used to this was more fact than anything. He knew with certainty that this closeness between them would end as soon as she didn't have Alfonso's scent filling her head, but he could work with that. He was a patient hunter, and this hunt was well worth the dedication.

He was careful to make sure that he didn't doze himself despite his uncommon contentedness. He had no idea what Miles might do when she woke up and smelled Alfonso again and he fully intended to be completely alert to deal with whatever came.

It turned out that his concern was greater than it need have been. They were just west of Maine when she stirred to the sound of Alfonso's voice carrying through the cabin when he hailed a flight attendant – rather rudely – with a "Hey girl".

Miles' first reaction was to tense. Nathan could feel her entire body go rigid for about three heartbeats and she reeked of fear, then she softened a little as she slowly pulled away from him and the fear faded. Her nose wrinkled slightly as she took a breath of cabin air not filtered through his scent, but she looked calm enough. He couldn't smell her emotions at all now. She looked into Nathan's eyes for one long moment, her face unreadable, then pulled away further and settled back in her own seat.

She could have been as indifferent now as she'd been on the flight to Billings except for the fact that she did not release his hand. Their arms laid entwined on the armrest between their seats and her fingers were laced through his. She ignored that fact entirely with her body language, but her grip was firm so he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was neither an unconscious, nor a casual gesture. She was still using his calm to aid her own, and physical contact – especially skin to skin – helped.

When they finally landed and taxied to the gate, Miles was the first person off the plane, towing Nathan along with the hand she still held. Since they'd both brought no luggage more than carry-on, Miles had them out of the airport so quickly that they'd have had to run to go any faster.

She hopped into the first taxi, cutting off someone already headed for it. She released his hand once the door closed behind them, sealing them in with the pungent smells of old cigarette smoke, cheap vanilla air freshener, sun-bleached vinyl, body odor, and a plethora of other scents that no human would discern – including the scent of the driver and at least a dozen other people that had been in the cab recently.

"Where to?" the driver asked, sounding bored.

Nathan quickly gave the name of a hotel he'd glimpsed on an advertisement during their mad dash out of the airport.

Miles lounged casually on her side of the backseat, for all the world as though she hadn't just spent half a day on a plane with a man that put her into a killing rage she'd barely been able to control – as though she hadn't gone all soft and mushy while she was using Nathan like a living tranquilizer.

For Nathan's part, he was trying to avoid even thinking about how much he'd enjoyed having her lean on him, however briefly, so that she wouldn't have any chance to read his satisfaction. He knew that she had on the plane, but he was pretty sure that she intended to leave what had happened on the plane, on the plane.

It was already getting late in the day. Nathan had originally planned to rent a car and head straight to Veazie, the town nearest the pack's residence, but the episode on the plane had changed those plans. They both needed some time to cool down and get a good night's rest before they did anything that had any potential to challenge their self-control.

* * *

-:- Miles -:-

Miles took a deep, silent breath of taxicab air and tried to calm herself. She'd known long before the plane landed that she needed to get as far from her old master as she could as fast as she could. The only thing that had kept her from tearing him to pieces in the airport or the plane were the witnesses. She didn't want to tempt herself to pursue him and wait until he was alone.

She hadn't felt so on the verge of losing control in a long time, but that was only part of what scared her about the day's events. Lupa had chosen Nathan as a mate, she'd known that, and Nathan seemed amenable to that idea for the most part, but Miles had never been able to even consider allowing that to happen. Many times she'd come close to simply telling Nathan that it was never going to happen and he would be much better off to set his sights elsewhere, but Lupa had always stilled her tongue before she could get the words out. Lupa was still determined to have him as her mate.

Today had changed things for all of them. She'd been forced to lean on Nathan today and it had had unexpected consequences for her. She never would have thought that the feel of a man's fingers in her hair could have such an effect on her but it had. Oh, how it had. As much as the physical contact, she'd found herself responding to his scent, which smelled like mate no matter how much she'd tried to convince herself that Lupa was alone in her feelings for him. It was very difficult not to respond to that smell on several different levels.

Worst though, had been the emotion she'd smelled from him while he'd comforted her. In her violent need at the time, it had been only comforting. Now, it was almost painful to think about. It was more than just their wolves now. So much more to him.

Miles read a lot of romance novels among other things in an attempt to understand how normal humans acted and interacted since she'd become a part of the Marrok's pack and learned how abnormal her youth had been. As far as she could tell – factoring in what Bran had told her that morning – Nathan was in love with her… And she was beginning to realize that she enjoyed his presence more than she wanted to admit.

She was too afraid to let any of her thoughts to the surface where Nathan could read them, but she was worried that she wasn't doing as well with her emotions, since about halfway through the cab ride, he started watching her surreptitiously and she smelled something from him that might have been hope, but he was trying to conceal it.

By the time they got to the hotel, she felt frazzled. Control wasn't her problem now. Her discomfort was firmly rooted in her human side. Lupa had settled down comfortably during the drive and was now as relaxed as Miles had ever felt her. As always, her wolf knew what she wanted and she was intent on getting it regardless of how uncertain Miles was about it.

Miles leaned against the reception desk in the lobby of the hotel while Nathan booked their rooms. She carefully projected calm indifference, but her mind was still racing a mile a minute. She comforted herself with the knowledge that she would soon be able to close herself in her private room where she might be able to think clearly away from Nathan's maddening scent.

She was so distracted trying not to look distracted that when she heard Nathan say her name, she gathered from his tone and expression that it was not the first time he'd said it.

He stared at her with concern for a moment, then handed her one of those plastic card keys. "We're on the fifth floor," he informed her.

She nodded without expression and led the way to the elevator. Shaken as she was by the unexpected turn of the day's events, Miles found that it was all she could do to keep her expression impassive and her posture casually neutral while ensconced in the little elevator with Nathan.

Aware that it spoiled her overt nonchalance, she practically threw herself out of the elevator the very moment that the doors had opened wide enough to admit her slight body. After months of working with Charles to learn careful control, she had thought herself beyond such difficulty. Charles was not cruel, but neither was he a gentle teacher. In order to test her control, he had pushed every single button that he could find. He had quite harshly forced her to discuss some of the most traumatic moments of her life, and if she'd shown the slightest distress, they'd had to start all over.

Perhaps she was simply extremely drained after the emotionally tumultuous plane ride coupled with the issues with Nathan that she didn't even know how to begin to address. Or perhaps the fault lay in her teacher. While Charles was not gentle and extremely efficient, she had always been able to see brief flashes of pain in his eyes when he delved into a particularly deep wound. Deep down, she knew that Charles took no pleasure in causing her pain. That had been a comfort. A comfort that had likely sabotaged her training. Then again, had she not seen that, she would most likely hate him.

Nathan followed her warily halfway down the hall before pausing to nod at a door labeled 532. "That's you," he offered. "I'm in 534," he added with a glance toward the adjacent door.

She nodded curtly and hastily stabbed her key into the lock. She was unfamiliar with such a key and it took her three tries to align it properly. The instant that the light flashed green, she wrenched open the door with force just shy of damaging the handle and all but slammed the door behind her.

She heaved a sigh of relief and leaned against the door as her heart began to slow. She heard the door to the next room open and close and allowed herself to relax further. "What's wrong with me?" she breathed finally.

The deep breath reminded her that she reeked of Nathan after sleeping on him for most of the flight. She stripped off her clothes before she allowed herself to consider enjoying the scent and stuffed them into the plastic laundry bag that hung in the little closet alcove, tying it securely. She then went into the bathroom and climbed into the shower, cranking the temperature up until it nearly burned her skin and scrubbing with the complementary soaps until she could no longer detect any hint of Nathan on her skin or in her hair.

She toweled off briskly and returned to the main room. The subtle sounds of movement from the next room had her mentally following Nathan through his room, so she turned on the little radio clock to the first station that would come in and turned up the volume until she could no longer hear Nathan through the wall.

Finally, she lay back on the bed and stared blankly up at the plain white ceiling, letting the twangy music wash over her without really hearing the words. She didn't much care for music, but she'd discovered that it had its uses.

"What's happening to me?" Miles whispered to the empty room, confident that the music was loud enough to eliminate any chance of Nathan overhearing.

_You deny our mate._ Lupa replied in an annoyed tone, though Miles knew that her wolf was still feeling quite content with the events of the day.

"I can't," Miles replied, her eyes stinging with the threat of tears that she knew she would not allow to fall. "Damn it, Lupa, you have to stop this. He is not our mate. He can never be. We can't… _I _can't ever be mated."

Lupa didn't respond in words, but Miles could feel the smug disbelief in her wolf. Lupa still believed that she would get her way.

As Lupa wordlessly drew Miles' attention to it, Miles recalled the way that she had taken refuge in Nathan today, purposely immersing herself in his scent and clinging to the warmth of his skin. She did not enjoy touching anyone. Ever. Under any circumstances. With this one glaring exception, it seemed. Granted, exceedingly high levels of stress had contributed to her uncharacteristic action and the pleasure that she had taken from it, but she had to admit that it supported Lupa's assertion.

And it absolutely terrified her. What if leaning on Nathan became a habit? What if she continued to enjoy it so much? She knew without a doubt that any definition of the word "mate" was beyond her ability to endure. Even if it was possible for her to learn to enjoy his companionship on a frequent basis, and his gentle touch… She knew with absolute certainty that she could never enjoy sex with him or anyone else, and sex was a prerequisite in "mating".

Bran had described "making love" as something that existed in the heart and mind as much as the body. He'd explained that it was about affection and companionship just as much as physical pleasure, if not more. Though she believed it may have been physically possible for him, she did not believe that Bran had lied to her, and his experience suggested that he wasn't likely mistaken. Still, she just couldn't reconcile his description in her head.

To her, sex was synonymous with pain. It was a thing done for the selfish pleasure of a man. There was no emotion involved. Knowing what she knew now, she could fathom in a distant sort of way that some men may not intentionally hurt a woman during the act, but it wasn't something that she could picture in any real way. She also could not imagine how it was possible for a woman to derive pleasure from the experience.

Anna had talked to her about it once, but Miles had a very difficult time trusting Charles' mate. Anna carried with her a false sense of peace, which always had mixed results for Miles. As soon as she felt herself beginning to relax in the presence of the Omega, her instincts screamed at her that she was being lulled into a vulnerable state. Most of the men that had raped Miles over the years had done so without the slightest evidence that they realized she was actually a person inside, but there had been some, such as her first master, who had convinced her to relax and trust them to some extent. She'd eventually understood that they took pleasure in betraying that trust. Alfonso had repeatedly convinced her that he never meant to hurt her.

He had lied.

Miles' chest tightened and she rolled onto her side, curling into a ball as she fought the panicky feeling inspired by allowing those memories to reach the surface. It took her some time to gain control of herself. When she had, she felt terribly bitter. "Would you honestly wish me on a wolf you care for?" she sneered.

_He is our choice_. Lupa replied. _We are his._

It was painfully evident that Lupa did not think like a human. As long as Nathan wanted them, it didn't matter if they actually deserved him. In that moment, Miles found herself hating her wolf for being able to see the world in such a simple way.

She lost spirit for arguing with the frustrating wolf and gave in to her exhaustion.

* * *

**Please review! Let me know if you like it. If you don't, let me know that too! I can't fix problems that I don't know about.**


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